Biology: Biochemistry Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Investing in nature improves equity, boosts economy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows that current trends in environmental degradation will lead to large economic losses in the coming decades, hitting the poorest countries hardest. But there is hope: investing in nature can turn those losses into gains.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography
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How coral reefs can survive climate change      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Similar to the expeditions of a hundred or two hundred years ago, the Tara Pacific expedition lasted over two years. The goal: to research the conditions for life and survival of corals. The ship crossed the entire Pacific Ocean, assembling the largest genetic inventory conducted in any marine system to date. The team's 70 scientists from eight countries took around 58,000 samples from the hundred coral reefs studied.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
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New nationwide modeling points to widespread racial disparities in urban heat stress      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using a combination of satellite data and modeling to study the temperatures and humidity people might feel in urban areas, researchers have pinpointed who in the U.S. is most vulnerable to heat stress.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

21st century economic growth will be slower than we thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The global economy will grow slower in the 21st century than economists have expected, a finding that has implications for our ability to adapt to climate change in the coming decades, according to new research.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Fossils
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Lessons in sustainability, evolution and human adaptation -- courtesy of the Holocene      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The El Gigante rockshelter in western Honduras is among only a handful of archaeological sites in the Americas that contain well-preserved botanical remains spanning the last 11,000 years. Considered one of the most important archaeological sites discovered in Central America in the last 40 years, El Gigante was recently nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Volcanoes
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Effect of volcanic eruptions significantly underestimated in climate projections      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found that the cooling effect that volcanic eruptions have on Earth's surface temperature is likely underestimated by a factor of two, and potentially as much as a factor of four, in standard climate projections.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
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Sinking seamount offers clues to slow motion earthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The first ever 3D seismic imaging of a subducting seamount shows a previously unknown sediment trail in Earth's crust off the coast of New Zealand. Scientists think the sediment patches help release tectonic pressure gradually in slow slip earthquakes instead of violent tremors. The findings will help researchers search for similar patterns at other subduction zones like Cascadia in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Traditional methods cannot give us the insights we need to understand changing ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

If we want to face up to the challenges posed by climate change and other global environmental changes, we need to bring complexity science into the mix with ecology and biodiversity conservation.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

When soft spheres make porous media stiffer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Porous media such as concrete physically represent a spherical packing of different components -- in this case cement, rock and water. The mechanical properties of such mixtures are still difficult to calculate due to their discretized nature. A team has now been able to investigate an unexpected property of mixtures of granular media consisting of soft and stiff spherical particles. For this purpose, a combination of ultrasound investigations and X-ray computed tomographic imaging was employed, allowing a three-dimensional (3D) characterization and evaluation. The discovery could contribute to safer future building in earthquake zones.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Conservation policies risk damaging global biodiversity, researchers argue      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Rewilding, organic farming and the 'nature friendly farming' measures included in some government conservation policies risk worsening the global biodiversity crisis by reducing how much food is produced in a region, driving up food imports and increasing environmental damage overseas.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

'Shoebox' satellites help scientists understand trees and global warming      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

As scientists try to understand the effect of climate on trees, advances in imaging technology are helping them see both the whole forest and every individual tree. High-resolution images taken by cubesats, small, shoebox-sized devices launched into low Earth orbit, are helping environmental scientists make more precise measurements about trees' response to a warming climate.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Antarctic ice shelves experienced only minor changes in surface melt since 1980      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of glaciologists set out to quantify how much ice melt occurred on Antarctica's ice shelves from 1980 to 2021. The results might seem to be good news for the region, but the researchers say there's no cause for celebration just yet.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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Scientists unearth 20 million years of 'hot spot' magmatism under Cocos plate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of scientists has observed past episodic intraplate magmatism and corroborated the existence of a partial melt channel at the base of the Cocos Plate. Situated 60 kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, the magma channel covers more than 100,000 square kilometers, and originated from the Galápagos Plume more than 20 million years ago, supplying melt for multiple magmatic events -- and persisting today.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New research reveals the impact of different species and their traits on human wellbeing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has revealed that well-functioning ecosystems are crucial to human health and wellbeing, with human-biodiversity interactions delivering wellbeing gains equating to substantial healthcare cost-savings, when scaled-up across populations.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Supersized fruit eater database on climate change frontline      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To conserve precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots, a crucial step is knowing how the fruit eaters are doing. To assist in that, scientists and students have supersized a database to keep track of such animals and birds.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

New study reveals irrigation's mixed effects around the world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Trajectory of irrigation water use in many regions is unsustainable, but practice is vital in managing climate change and future agricultural development, researchers conclude.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Severe Weather Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

A Tongan volcano plume produced the most intense lightning rates ever detected      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research showed that the plume emitted by the Hunga Volcano eruption in 2022 created the highest lightning flash rates ever recorded on Earth, more than any storm ever documented.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Study finds combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of chemical linked to a higher risk of blood cell cancers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

About 47 million homes use natural gas or propane-burning cooktops and ovens. Researchers found that cooking with gas stoves can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above those found in secondhand smoke.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

We've pumped so much groundwater that we've nudged Earth's spin      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a new study.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Massive underwater plateau near Solomon Islands is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Ontong Java Plateau, a volcanically-formed underwater plateau located in the Pacific Ocean north of the Solomon Islands, is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought, new research suggests.